Because my birthday was this past weekend, I wanted to tell you about one of the great women of astrophysics: Henrietta Swan Leavitt.

What does this have to do with my birthday? I can hear you asking that. See, my parents are wonderful, thoughtful, creative geeks. And they got me an American Girl doll for my birthday. (YES, my birthday this year. YES, I’m an adult). But then they dressed her up like Henrietta Swan Leavitt. She even has accessories!

(Reply to this post to vote for my parents to create a whole line of women scientist outfits for American Girls dolls! I sure do…)

My American Girl Woman

I was in transports of delight. Yes, my mother sewed those new clothes for her. (The skirt is leftover fabric from my prom dress oh so many years ago.). My father worked on the accessories:

Folio with “glass” plates of the Magellanic Clouds, Henrietta’s scientific paper on Cepheid Variables, and photographs

Henrietta Swan Leavitt

Henrietta Swan Leavitt made it possible for us to measure the size of the Universe.

Yup. read that again. Henrietta Swan Leavitt made it possible for us to measure the size of the Universe.

Ostensibly she was working as a “computer” (what women who did the computational or classification work in astronomy were called in those days) for Dr. Edward Pickering at the Harvard College Observatory.

Variable stars are, as they sound, stars that vary in brightness. What Henrietta discovered, is that for Cepheid variables, the brightness of the star (luminosity) and the period (time between brightest moments) are related. The longer between “blinks” the brighter the star. This means that if you can see a star varying and time between the “blinks” you can figure out how bright that star actually is, not just how bright it looks. (Remember that farther away stars look dimmer, but if you got closer to them they’d look brighter).

By knowing how bright a star truly is, you can accurately measure the distance to that star by how dim it appears to be. Which means you can now measure the distances to things outside our galaxy.

Ah Barbara… the lace is a temporary measure. The plan was for handmade, but the plan had to be executed much too quickly. It is a repurposed crocheted doily. I got in a LOT of trouble for thinking it was tatting at first. (I saw the loops and knew the timeframe, so I was sure it wasn’t something more complex than thick tatting … but I was wrong.) I think there will be a bobbin lace collar at some undefined point in the future.

That’s a fabulous gift idea! And I very much agree your mother should make more – maybe Hypatia of Alexandria and Carolyn Shoemaker, just for chronological variety!
This is such a good idea, I might have to do something like this for my daughters, only as a computer scientist myself, I might choose Admiral Grace Hopper and Ada Lovelace. Hmmm…

Suggestions for Astronomy dolls:
Caroline Herschel (especially if you can find Felicity’s colonial American clothes on Ebay)
Hypatia
generic NASA jumpsuit
Maria Mitchell (telescope for her http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/eef7/)
Valentina Tereshkova (bonus points for a very tiny Order of Lenin medal)

um….ok, i have never been a huge fan of the american girl doll enterprise, but this….WOW. this is beyond the best and most creative gift ever. i am a little worried for your daughter though…surely the collection will expand with no limits now that you’ve started!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! your parents clearly rock.

I understand the reticence… American Girl is now owned by Mattel and it’s pretty commercial. But, but, but, but… they are high quality dolls, and appropriately scaled for various types of play including “following the rules” and playing only with the commercial stuff, as well as creative play like the above. Sewing can teach so much: dexterity, hand-eye, MATH, diagramming, following a schematic, MATH, measurement, MATH, fiber arts, creativity, MATH, useful future skills for basic clothing repair, MATH, art, MATH, ratios, division, etc, etc, etc. You also get social skills with dolls: you practice your social skills on the doll and with your friends when playing together.
Also, the American Girl (historical) dolls have a strong link to reading and history, which is a big part of what I loved about them.
A doll (any doll) is a classic toy, up there with the ball and the stick. American Girl makes a nice doll, and you do NOT have to follow their “rules” and use only the provided accessories. You can make up your own rules, as with any doll.

Your parents are like the bomb.com! I was always into the American Girl Dolls and I am currently working on a research project on Leavitt. I was looking for a certain picture to use in my report and I found this. I got so excited, because I thought that American Girl was making real historical figures. Once I read the story, I was wising for parent like yours. I am a geek also, so I would love a present like that!